No startled deer, Spurs’ Anderson produces

After a late start to his education into all things Spurs, rookie guard James Anderson was thrown into the thick of the fray in the team’s regular season opener against the Pacers at the AT&T Center.

Anderson missed all of summer league and played no more than 23 minutes and 47 seconds in any of the Spurs’ seven preseason games.

Nevertheless, when starting small forward Richard Jefferson picked up his second foul with 2:40 left in the first quarter on Wednesday, Anderson got an early call from coach Gregg Popovich and made his NBA debut.

His first official NBA statistic: a bad pass for a turnover.

“He had a little deer in the headlights going for a little while,” said Spurs captain Tim Duncan.

Things got better as Anderson calmed his nerves and got a feel for the game. The first shot of his career was a made 3-pointer early in the second period. By game’s end, he had a second 3-pointer and scored 10 points, on 4-for-8 shooting.

“As he calmed down, he hit some big shots for us,” Duncan said. “Defensively, he was trying hard. He’s just got to get used to the speed of these guys.”

Anderson’s defensive assignment was Pacers scoring star Danny Granger. With Jefferson picking up his fourth foul 39 seconds into the season half, Anderson logged 16 minutes and 17 seconds of the second half. He helped limit Granger to seven second-half points after he torched the Spurs for 19 in the first 24 minutes.

“It did a lot for my confidence,” Anderson said, “not only being in double figures, but just to get my feet wet and defending a guy like Granger and being able to defend him.”

It wasn’t until after the game that Anderson reflected on the significance of Wednesday’s performance.

“I realized I finally played my first real NBA game, so my dream is fully accomplished,” he said. “But I’m going to continue to work and become a better player.”

As for Duncan’s “deer in the headlights” characterization of his first few minutes on the court, Anderson took solace in teammate George Hill’s recollection of his own NBA initiation two years ago.

“I was the deer that got run over by the car,” Hill said.

Bonner update: A Thursday morning MRI exam on Matt Bonner’s right ankle confirmed that he suffered a grade-2 sprain during the first quarter of Wednesday’s game.

The timetable for Bonner’s return to action has been set at 10 to 14 days. The Spurs have four games scheduled over the next 10 days; six games over the next 14.

A video replay showed that Bonner jumped after a rebound and landed on Hill’s foot as he came down, rolling the ankle.